Method and System for Identifying Subscriber Stations in Machine to Machine Communication

1. A method to identify a subscriber station by a base station in a wireless network, the method comprising: determining whether a station identifier (STID) is shared among multiple subscriber stations; assigning different bandwidth request (BR) indexes to the multiple subscriber stations if the multiple subscriber stations share the STID, the different BR indexes being assigned based on predefined BR indexes; and identifying the subscriber station based on an assigned BR index and the shared STID in an access message received from the subscriber station.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: identifying the subscriber station based on a STID received in the access message if the STID received in the access message is uniquely assigned to the subscriber station.

3. An apparatus configured to identify a subscriber station in a wireless network, the apparatus comprising: a controller configured to: determine whether a station identifier (STID) is shared among multiple subscriber stations, assign different BR indexes to the multiple subscriber stations if the multiple subscriber stations share the STID, wherein the different BR indexes are assigned based on predefined BR indexes, and identify the subscriber station based on an assigned BR index and the shared STID in an access message received from the subscriber station.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the controller is configured to identify the subscriber station based on a STID received in the access message if the STID received in the access message is uniquely assigned to the subscriber station.

5. A method to perform a bandwidth request (BR) procedure by a subscriber station in a wireless network, the method comprising: receiving a station identifier (STID) and a BR index assigned from a base station; and transmitting an access message to the base station, the access message comprising the STID and the BR index, wherein the subscriber station is identified based on the STID and the BR index in the access message by the base station, wherein different BR indexes are assigned to multiple subscriber stations if the multiple subscriber stations share the STID, and wherein the different BR indexes are assigned based on predefined BR indexes.

6. A subscriber station configured to perform a bandwidth request (BR) procedure in a wireless network, the subscriber station comprising: a controller configured to control the subscriber station to receive a station identifier (STID) and a BR index assigned from a base station, and transmit an access message to the base station, the access message comprising the STID and the BR index, wherein the subscriber station is identified based on the STID and the BR index in the access message by the base station, wherein different BR indexes are assigned to multiple subscriber stations if the multiple subscriber stations share the STID, and wherein the different BR indexes are assigned based on predefined BR indexes.